Device for treating a sheet such as a sheet of light-sensitive material



May 8, 1962 E, DUTCH DEVICE FOR TREATING A SHEET SUCH AS A SHEET 0F LIGHT-sENSTlvE MATERIAL 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jun@l 19, 1958 INV ENTOR. M7 a May 8, 1962 E. DUTCH DEVCE FOR TREATING A SHEET SUCH AS A SHEET OF LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL 'IIIIlllIlll/F- lllfl Filed June 19, 1958 E. DUTCH 3,033,351 DEVICE FOR TREATING A SHEET suon As A SHEET OF LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL May 8, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 19, 1958 United States Patent vO 3,033,351 DEVICE FOR TREATING A SHEET SUCH AS A SHEET F LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL Emery Dutch, 320 W. 77th St., New York 24, N.Y. Filed June 19, 1958, Ser. No. 743,089 8 Claims. (Cl. 19S-178) The present invention relates to devices for treating sheets such as sheets of light-sensitive material.

In the treatment of sheets of photographic iilm for developing the same, for example, it is necessary to move the sheets through treating liquids. During such movenient the sheets should not be engaged by anything except the treating liquid. It is of course diiiicult to attain this latter ideal since something must engage the sheets in order to move the same. However, in conventional devices of this type the photographic film, for example, is very often scratched or otherwise undesirably influenced, so that the developed film does not have the desired high quality. These diiiiculties are particularly dificult -to overcome when dealing with large sheets of film or the like, such as X-rays.

It is accordingly one of the main objects of the present invention to provide a structure which is capable of moving a Sheet to be treated along a predetermined path while 'the sheet is being treated and without producing any contact between the sheet being treated and elements such as conveyer bands which serve to transport the sheet.

Another object of the present invention is to localize the engagement of the sheet with the structure which transports the same to an exceedingly small area limited to only a part of an edge of the sheet where the engagement thereof is immaterial.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a structure which is capable of delivering the treated sheet to a place where the sheet can remain until the operator picks it up.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a device of the above type which is capable of operating substantially automatically or in a fully automatic manner to eliminate any errors which might result from manual operation.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a simple, rugged structure capable of accomplishing all of the above objects and capable of operating reliably over a long period of time with a minimum of maintenance.

With the above objects in view the present invention includes in a device for treating a sheet such as a sheet of light-sensitive material a gripping means for gripping the sheet to be treated at an edge portion thereof and a conveyer means which cooperates with the gripping means for transporting the latter along a predetermined path, the

sheet which is gripped by the gripping means moving with the latter to be treated while the gripping means is moved along this path. The conveyer means engages only the gripping means and does not come into contact with the sheet, so that the latter is in no way undesirably affected by the conveyer means itself.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of Specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevational view of one possible structure according to the present invention for treating a light-sensitive sheet;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view illustrating the drive for the conveyer means of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the structure of FIG. 1 as seen from the left side of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a sheet gripping means according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a sectional elevational view of a pair of gripping jaws of the gripping means and the structure which cooperates with these jaws, FIG. 5 being taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view taken along the line 6 6 of FIG. 5 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view on an enlarged scale of a part of the structure of FIG. l which is constructed differently from FIG. 1 to provide a fully automatic device;

FIG. 8 fragmentarily illustrates in a schematic manner a diiferent arrangement of conveyer bands; and

FIG. 9 fragmentarily illustrates the drive for the conveyer arrangement of FIG. 8.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the structure of the invention includes a support means made up of an inclined wall 11i lixed by a pair of brackets 11 to the front vertical edges of a pair of walls 12, one of these walls 12 being visible in FIG. 1, and both walls 12 being visible in FIG. 3. The wall 12 which is not visible in FIG. l is visible in FIG. 2. The top edges of the walls 12, which are vertical and parallel to each other, are interconnected by a horizontal wall 13. Thus, the parts 10-13 form a support means in the form of a framework of interconnected walls which carries various other parts of the structure of the invention. The walls 12 are respectively formed with a plurality of aligned slots 14 extending upwardly from -the bottom edges thereof, and these slots are adapted to receive Walls 15 of containers 16 for treating liqquids, as illustrated in FIG. l. Thus, the portions of the walls 12 which extend downwardly beyond the top edges of the slots 14 are Iinserted directly into the containers 16 which are arranged in a series engaging with each other so that the adjoining walls 15 of the container 1'6 may be received in the slots 14, as illustrated in FIG. l. These containers 16 are adapted to hold various treating liquids.

The inclined wall 10 of the support means 10-14 forms part of an enclosure 17 which is light-tight when a cassette 18 is located in the position shown in FIG. 1. The enclosure 17 includes a pair of opposed side walls 19 fixed to and extending upwardly from the inclined wall 10, anl end wall 20 extending upwardly from the front edge of the top wall l13 and connected in a light-tight manner therewith, and a top wall 21 which extends to the right from the end wall 20 along the top edges of the side walls 19 up to a three-sided framework 22. This framework 22 has a pair of parallel opposed side portions 23 in the form of angle bars of U-shaped cross section extending along and iixed in a light-tight manner with the top edges of the opposed walls 19 of the enclosure 17, and at their left ends the bars 23 are connected with a tranverse profiled bar 24 which extends across the walls 19. At their bottom edges the bars 23`and 24 are provided with inwardly directed flanges 25 which support the cassette 18 at its outer edges. The cassette 18 is made up of a container 26 and a cover 27 pivotally connected therewith at 28. It will be noted that the liange 25 does not extend inwardly beyond the outer edges of the container 26 so that the cover 27 is free to turn downwardly from the container 26 to the position shown in FIG. 1 where the cover 27 rests on the inclined wall 10. The right ends 29 of the walls 19 are located close enough to the pivot 28 to prevent any light from entering into the enclosure 17 when the lid 27 is in the position shown in iFIG. 1. This lid 27 turnably carries in a known way a bar 30, the ends of which engage beneath projections of the sides of the container 26 to maintain the cassette 18 closed, and before the cassette 18 is placed on the apparatus in the position shown in FIG. 1 this bar 30 is turned to a position where the lid 27 is released so that it can drop by gravity to the position shown in FIG. 1. The operator places the cassette 18 with the exposed lrn therein and with the cover 27 held in the closed position on the flanges 25 of bars 23 and 24, and the operator holds the lid 27 in its closed position by engaging the lid adjacent to the pivot 28. The portion of the lid 27 adjacent to the pivot 28 which remains in overlappng engagement with the sides of the container 26 light-tightly slides with respect to these sides so that no light can enter into the enclosure 17 when the lid 27 is released. Thus, with the cassette 18 resting on the flanges 25, the operator simply releases the lid 27, after the bar 30 has been moved to its lid releasing position, and the lid 27 simply falls down onto the inclined wall 11B, so that the exposed lilm 31 slides down by gravity in a leftward direction, as viewed in FIG. 1.

'I'he walls 19 of the enclosure 17 pivotally support just beneath and in light-tight engagement with the bar 24 a door 32 which is connected at its top edge, as viewed in FIG. l, with an elongated hinge 33 providing the pivotal connection between the walls 19 and the door 32, this hinge engaging the underside of bar 24 in a light-tight manner, as pointed out above. The bottom edge of the door 32 engages the ilm 31 while the film 31 slides down by gravity from the lid 27, so as to guarantee that the leading edge of the lm will move along the top surface of a plate 34 fixed to the top surface of the wall 1t) and extending all the way across the latter. Before the cassette 18 is placed on the cassette supporting frame 23, 24, the door 32 is turned by the operator upwardly to the dot-dash line position indicated in FIG. l, this door 32 carrying a knob 35 for this purpose. With the door 32 turned upwardly to its inactive position shown in dotdash lines in FIG. 1, the operatorcan place in the enclosure 17 behind the door 32 a gripping means 36 described in detail below. With the gripping means 36 in the position shown in FIG. 1, the operator releases thedoor 32 which returns to its solid line position shown in FIG. 1, and then the cassette may be placed on the frame 23, 24 so that the lid 27 can be released to permit the film 31 to move by gravity down to the gripping means 36, and with this structure there is no possibility of exposure of the lm to the surrounding light. Y

The gripping means 36 is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 46. This gripping means is made up of an elongated jaw means 37 and a pair of flexible portions 38 connected with and located respectively beyond the ends of the elongated jaw means 37. These flexible portions 38 are in the form of flexible meshes made of a material which will not react with the treating liquids, and in fact the entire gripping means is made of a material which will not react with the treating liquids. VThe liexible portions 38 are respectively lixed tothe free end portions of an elongated rod 39 to which the jaw means 37 is also connected,

and it will be noted that the jaw means 37 extends from the rod 39 in a direction opposite from the flexible portions 38. A bar or rod 40 is parallel to and spaced from the rod 39 and is also iixed with the flexible portions 38, this bar 46 serving a purpose described below.

Jaw means 37 is made up of a pair of identical end units which are interconnected in a manner described below. Eachof these end units includesV an upper jaw 41 and a'lower jaw 42 respectively provided with front gripping edges 43 and 44 and with rear edges 46 and 47 opposed to the edges 43 and 44, respectively. TheV rear edger46 of each unit is curved around the rod 39 so that in this way the jawmeans 37 is connected with the rod 39.

The jaw 41 of each unit has a pair of end walls 48 respectively formed with aligned openings 49 which respectively receive tongues 50 integral with and projecting from the jaw 42 of each unit so that in this way the jaws 41 and 42 of each unit are pivotally connected to each other for turning movement with respect to each other about an axis located between the front and rear edges of the jaws. The pair of upper jaws 41 are xed as by welding or the like to the ends of an elongated plate 51, and the bottom faces of the jaws 42 are fixed as by welding, for example, to the ends of an elongated bar 52, so that in this way the upper jaws of the two units are interconnected for movement together, and the lower jaws of the two units are also interconnected for movement together. The walls 48 of each unit are spaced from each other by a distance greater than the width of the lower jaw 42 of each unit so that this lower jaw is free to turn in the space between the walls 48. Each of the lower jaws 42 is formed with an upwardly struck tongue 53 for a purpose described below.

The inner walls 48 of the two units, these inner walls being directed toward each other, are formed with cut outs 54 through which legs of angle members 55 respectively extend, these legs of the angle members 55 which respectively extend through the cutouts 54 into the spaces between the jaws of the units being xed with cams 56 which are over-center cams which operate in a manner described below. The legs of the angle members 55 which are located between the two jaw units extend upwardly therefrom and are xed at their top ends to an elongated bar 57 which forms an actuating portion of the jaw means 37 in a manner described below.

A spring means is provided for urging the jaws of each unit to their open position and forcooperating with the over-Center cam to maintain the jaws in their closed position, and this spring means is in the form of a leaf spring 58 located between the jaws 41 and 42 of each unit in the manner shown in FIG. 5 just to the rear of the gripping edges 43 between the latter and axis of the pivot 49, 50. In the open position of the jaw means which is illustrated in FIG. 4 the springs 58 hold the gripping edges 43 and 44 spaced from each other so that an edge of the sheet 31 can be received between-these gripping edges. When the bar 57 is moved to the right, as viewed in FIG. 5, the cams 56 will turn in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 5, downwardly to a vertical position and then slightly beyond this vertical position so that the bottom edges of the cams 56 are located next to and just inside of the rear edges 47, and in this position theV Vcams 47 are inclined downwardly to the left, as viewed in FIG. 5, rather than downwardly to the right as shown in FIG. 5. When the cams 56 have reached this Vposition where they are inclined downwardly to the left, as viewed in FIG. 5, the gripping edges 43 and 44 are in their closed gripping position, and the spring 58 acts on the jaws 41 and 42 to urge the rear edgeV portions thereof toward each other so as to maintain the cam 56 in its position downwardly inclined to the left, as viewed in FIG. 5, and thus in this position the jaws cannot move apart from each other. It is necessary for the operator to manually engage the bar 57 forV turning the cams 56 'back to the position thereof shown in FIG. 5. The tongues S3 cooperate with the cams 56` to limit the extent to which the jaws can `be opened.

A conveyer means cooperates with the gripping means 36 for transporting the latter along a path extending through the series of containers 16- This conveyermeans includes a plurality of conveyer bars which extend between and are turnably supported by the pair of parallel walls 12. Thus, as may be seen from FIG. 1, there are an upper series of rotatable conveyer bars V61), then at an elevation below the bars 60 a second horizontal series of bars 61. A third series of rotatable Yconveyer bars 62 are located substantially lower thanthe bars 61, and finally a 63 are turnably supported yby and extend between the walls 12. All of the bars 61)-63 are identical, except for the leftmost bars 64, as viewed in FIG. 1, at the elevation of the series of bars 61. At this part of the structure there are a pair of bar portions 64 (FIG. 3) which are spaced from each other for a purpose described below, and since these bar portions are not supported at their ends by the walls 12, respectively, brackets 65 (FIG. 3) are carried by the inner faces of the walls 12, respectively, and are formed at their upper ends with openings through which the bars 64 rotatably pass, so that in this way the bars 64 are supported inwardly of the walls 12. The conveyer means includes two identical sets of co-extensive and aligned conveyer bands threaded around the bars 60-64. These bands include, in the example illustrated in FIG. l, three endless bands 66 extending in the manner shown in FIG. 1, around the upper bars 60 and the lower bars 62, each band 66 extending around a pair of upper bars 60 and around a single lower bar 62 in the manner shown in FIG. l. Three endless conveyer bands 67 extend around the lower bars 63, the upper bars 61, and also around the bars `62, the band 66 being located between the bars 62 and the band 67 while the band 67 is located between the bars 61 and the bands 66. A plurality of stationary rods 68 extend between and are carried Iby the walls 12 for further guiding the bands 66 and 67 in the manner shown in FIG. l. Also, a plurality of partition walls 69 are carried by and extend between the walls 12 in the manner shown in FIG. l. The upper bars 60 and 61 extend through the right wall 12 of FIG. 3 and ixedly carry the sprocket wheels 70 shown in FIG. 2, and all of these sprocket wheels 70 cooperate with a sprocket chain 71 driven from a sprocket wheel 72 to which the chain is guided by a sprocket wheel 73 which is turnably supported by the wall 12 which is shown in FIG. 2. Through this set of sprocket wheels and the cooperating sprocket chain 71 the several sprocket wheels and the conveyer bars therewith are rotated in the directions indicated in FIG. 2. The result is that the right part of the bands 66 and 67 which are in engagement with each other in each container 16 move downwardly, while the left part of the bands 66 and 67 which engage each other in each container move upwardly, as viewed in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 8 and 9 schematically illustrate another arrangement of the conveyer bars and the drive therefor. According to this embodiment the bars are not only arranged in horizontal rows, ybut also in vertical rows, so that all of the bars 60 which respectively correspond to the bars 60 are located directly over the several bars 61 which respectively correspond to the bars 61. The bars of the embodiment of FIG. 8 which correspond to the bars 63 are respectively located in line beneath the bars 61', and the bars 62 of the embodiment of FIG. 8 are positioned in the manner shown in FIG. l. The bands 66 and 67 of FIG. 8 respectively correspond to the bands 66 and 67 of FIG. l and are arranged as shown in FIG. 8 so that they will convey the gripping means 36 in the same way as the embodiment of FIG. l, as described below, and the drive for the embodiment of FIG. 8 is illustrated in FIG. 9. In both embodiments the drive includes an electric motor 75 which drives the sprocket wheel 72 through the gear reduction unit 76. The motor 75 is connected with any suitable source of electricity and the circuit or" this motor includes a switch to enable the operator to turn the motor on and oic so as to start and stop the turning of the bands.

While in the embodiment of FIG. l guide plates 77 are carried by and extend between the walls 12 for guiding the gripping means from one set of conveyor bands to the next set, in the embodiment of FIG. 8 endless bands 78 are arranged as shown in FIG. 8 to guarantee proper movement of the conveyed articles through the device. These bands 78 are located outwardly beyond 6 the bands 66 and 67 so that the latter are located between the bands 78.

The brackets 65 which participate in the support of the coaxial bar portions 64 have xedly connected to downwardly directed surfaces thereof an elongated bar 79 (FIG. 3) which is located over and slightly beyond the top left edge of the lett container 16 of FIG. l, for a purpose described below.

The motor 75 is mounted on the top wall 13, and this wall 13 also carries a solenoid 80, the armature 81 of which is pulled to the right, as viewed in FIG. 1, when the solenoid 80 is energized. This solenoid 80 is connected into an electrical circuit which includes the manually operable switch 82 so that the operator need only close the switch 82 in order to energize the solenoid Sti. The armature 81 is connected at its left end with a plunger 83 guided for movement to the right and left, as viewed in FIG. 1, extending beneath the solenoid 80, and extending in a light-tight manner through the wall 20 of the enclosure 17. A spring 84 is connected at one end with the interconnected portion of armature 81 and plunger 83 and at its opposite end with a stationary member xed to the wall 13 for urging the plunger 83 and the armature 81 to the rest position thereof shown in FIG. l. As is apparent from FIG. l, when the operator places the gripping means 36 on the inclined wall 1), the actuating portion S7 of the gripping means 36 becomes located in front of the right end of the plunger 83 so that the latter prevents further downward movement of the gripping means 36 by gravity. In this position of the gripping means 36 the left ends of the flexible portions 38 thereof are close to but not engaged in the nip between the bands 66 and 67 of the right sets of conveyer bands shown in FIG. 1. These conveyer bands as well as the bands 66' and 67 of FIG. 8 may be in the form of elon gated bands of exible mesh material which are in stretched condition so as to be moved by rictional engagement with the rotating conveyer bars, and these bands are made of a material which will not react with the treating liquids. All parts which engage the treating liquids are made of materials which will not react therewith, so that only the film will be iniluenced by the treating liquid.

The above-described structure operates as follows:

When the actuating portion S7 is in the position shown in FIGS. l and 5, the jaws of the gripping means are open and the plunger 83 prevents further downward movement of the gripping means 36 beyond the position shown in FIG. l, so that even though the conveyer bands are moving they will not engage the exible portions 38 of the gripping means 36 and the latter remains in the position shown in FIG. l. After the lid 27 drops the film moves by gravity down to and slightly beyond the position shown in FIG. 1 so that its leading edge is received between the open jaws of the gripping means. The operator leaves the cassette in the position shown in FIG. l so as not to expose the iilm, and once the operator hears the click caused by the striking of the leading edge of the ilrn 31 against the right edges of the walls 4.8 of the jaws 41, as viewed in FIG. 1, the operator knows that the leading edge of the lm has been received in the jaws of the gripping means 36, and now the operator closes the switch 82 so as to energize the solenoid 80. This causes the plunger 83 to move suddenly to the right, as Viewed in FIG. l, so as to kick the actuating portion 57 over to the right, as viewed in FIG. l, and in this way the over-center cams 56 are moved to the position where they are inclined downwardly to the left, as described above in connection with FIG. 5, and thus the jaws of the gripping means 36 are closed and remain closed. Moreover, the operator immediately releases the switch S2 so that the spring 84 returns the plunger 83 and the armature 81 to their rest position shown in FIG. 1, and the bar 57 remains in a position lower than that shown in FIG. l so that the plunger 83 is no longer located in the path of movement of the bar 57, and thus the gripping means 36 is free to slide down the wall 10 together with the film gripped by the gripping means 36.

As may be seen from FIG. 3 the sets of conveyer bands located adjacent the walls 12 are spaced from each other by a distance which locates these sets of bands adjacent the outer ends of the rods 39 and 40 of the gripping means, and thus the flexible portions 38 are nipped be-y tween the bands to be conveyed thereby. The distance between the sets of bands located adjacent the walls 12 is greater than the width of the film so lthat the latter cannot come in contact with any of the conveyer bands. The film is therefore free to move in the space between the bands, and the partition walls 69 guarantee that the film moves downwardly around the bars 62 without falling over these bars so that the film moves downwardly into each container 16 and then upwardly out of the same after having passed downwardly around the bar 62. As the gripping means 36 moves upwardly out of the right tank 16 of FIG. l it is guided over the plate 77 to the intermediate set of conveyer bands to be moved by the latter downwardly into and upwardly out of the intermediate container 16, and then the next following plate 77 guides the gripping means together with the film connected therewith into the left container 16. As is well known, the right container 16 contains a developer solution, the intermediate container 16 contains a hypo solution, and left container 16 of FIG. l contains water for washing the film.

As the gripping means 36 is conveyed upwardly out of the left container 16 of FIG. l, the flexible portions 38 move around the coaxial bar portions 64, while the jaw means 37 hangs from the rod 39 and is simply shifted to the left, as viewed in FIG. l, between the bar portions 64. Also, the film hangs from the jaw means 37 and shifts to the left with the jaw means. The leading edges of the liexible portions 33 move over the stationary bar '79, and the remainder of the flexible portions 33- move over the bar 79 resting thereon by their own weight, only the rod 39 moves beyond the conveyer means and simply falls down to the right of the bar 79 in engagement with the inner surface of the left wall of the left container 16 of FIG. l. Thus, the film together with the jaw means 37 come to hang downwardly from the bar 79 on the inside of the left container 16 of FIG. l, whil-e the liexible portions 38 are draped over the bar 79, and the rod 40 has such a weight that it maintains the gripping means 36 together with the film in a position hanging from the bar 79. The fiexible portions 33 have suiiicient stiffness to guarantee that their leading edges do not move downwardly to the right of the bar 79, as viewed in FIG. l. These iiexible portions 38 are made of a metallic mesh, for example.

The above operations are repeated for each gripping means and sheet which isrto be treated, and several gripping means and sheets may accumulate on the bar '79 before the operator removes them.

It is possible to energizerthe solenoid 30 automatically, Y "Y and aV Structure capable of accomplishing this result is shown in FIG. 7. In this embodiment the inclined wall 10 is identical with the wall 19 except that it is formed with a cutout 85 located beside the jaw means 37 when the gripping means 36 is in the position shown in FIG. l. A bracket 86 is fixed to the underside of the wall 10 and pivotally supports a lever 37 having an upper free end 83 extending upwardly through and slightly beyond the cutout 85, so that the leading edge of the film will engage the end 8S of the lever 87 to turn this l-ever S7 after the leading edge of the film has entered into the space between the open jaws and just before the leading edge of the film reaches its final position between 'then jaws. A microswitch 89 is also fixed to the underside of the wall 10 and is -electrically connected with the solenoid'80 for energizing the latter when the microswitch 39.

in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 7 through a slight distance in order to close the switch 39, as is well known. Thus, when the leading edge of the film turns the lever 87 slightly in aV counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 7, the arm 90 will be moved downwardly to close the switch 89 andv automatically energize the solenoid S0 so that the plunger 83 trips the gripping means to place it in its closed position, this plunger 83 together with the solenoid Si) and the electrical switch structure cooperating therewith forming a tripping means for tripping the gripping means. Therefore, when the manually operated switch `82 of FIG. l is replaced by th-e automatically operated switch arrangement of FIG. 7, the entire device is automatic and all operations take place in a fully automatic as soon as the operator releases the lid 27 of the cassette 18. In order to guarantee that the light-sensitive sheet is not exposed to the surrounding light while it is being handled by the structure of the invention, a light-tight curtain 91 is fixed to the underside of the wall 10 and rests against the right wall of the right container 16 and a second dark curtain 92 is fixed to the left end of the wall 13 and hangs downwardly therefrom to rest against the left wall of the left container 16, this curtain being flexible and made of cloth, for example, so that it is easily moved by the fiexible portions 38 of the gripping means, the curtain being sufficiently loose so that it does not allow light to enter even though it is moved by these fiexible portions. The operator raises the curtain 92 to remove the treated film with the gripping devices connected thereto, and of course the cassette 1S remains in the position shown in FIG. l until the film has been developed. With respect to the embodiment of FIG. 7, in order to prevent light from entering through the cutout 8S, a sheet 93 of light-impervious material is formed with an opening through which the lever 37 passes in a lighttight manner, and this sheet 93 simply slides across the opening 85 without uncovering the latter during turning of the lever 87. This sheet 93 may simply be in the form of a piece of rubber.

lt will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of apparatus for treating light-sensitive sheets differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in an apparatus for developing film, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. Y

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: Y

l. A device for treating a'sheet, such as a sheet of light-sensitive material, comprising, in combination, gripping means for gripping the sheet to be treated only at an edge thereof; said gripping means having iiexible portions spaced from each other by a distance greater than the width of the sheet to be treated; and conveyor means nipping said flexible portions of saidV gripping means for conveying the same along a predetermined path whileV the sheet is treated during movement of saidgripping only said gripping means and remaining at all times out of engagement with the sheet so that the treatment of the latter is ,uninuenced by said conveyor means.

2. In a device for treating a sheet such as a sheet of light-sensitive material, in combination, gripping means for gripping the sheet which is to be treated at an edge portion thereof, said gripping means being movable between open and closed positions and said gripping means when it is in its open position receiving an edge of the sheet and when it is in its closed position gripping the sheet at said edge thereof, said gripping means having an actuating portion which must be moved in order to cause said gripping means to move from its open to its closed position; support means supporting said gripping means for movement by gravity from a rest position to an operating position; and tripping means cooperating with said actuating portion of said gripping means for moving said actuating portion to cause said gripping means to be moved from its open to its closed position, said tripping means cooperating with said actuating portion of said gripping means to prevent movement of said gripping means by gravity downwardly along said support means from said rest to said operating position until after said tripping means has moved said actuating portion so as to place said gripping means in its closed position, said tripping means being located in the path of movement of said actuating portion of said gripping means only when the latter is in its open position.

I3. In a device for treating a sheet such as a sheet of light-sensitive material, in combination, elongated jaw means having open and closed positions and receiving an edge portion of a sheet to be treated when said jaw means is in its open position and gripping the sheet at said edge portion thereof when said jaw means is in its closed position; a pair of flexible portions connected with and located laterally beyond the ends of said jaw means, said flexible portions being spaced from each other by a distance greater than the width of the sheet to be treated; a stationary rod; and a pair of coextensive aligned conveyor band means cooperating with said flexible portions for transporting the latter together with said jaw means and a sheet gripped thereby along a predetermined path while the sheet is treated, said pair of conveyor band means delivering said flexible portions to said stationary rod to rest thereon with said jaw means and sheet gripped thereby hanging from said flexible portions which rest on said stationary rod, said pair of conveyor band means being spaced from each other also by a distance greater than the width of the sheet to be treated so that the sheet is never engaged by the pair of conveyor band means.

4. In a device for treating a sheet such as a sheet of light-sensitive material, in combination, elongated jaw means having open and closed positions and receiving an edge portion of a sheet to be treated when said jaw means is in its open position and gripping the sheet at said edge portion thereof when said jaw means is in its closed position; a pair of flexible portions connected with and located laterally beyond the ends of said jaw means, said exible portions being spaced from each other by a distance greater than the width of the sheet to be treated; a stationary rod; a pair of coextensive aligned conveyor band means cooperating with said flexible portions for transporting the latter together with said jaw means and a sheet gripped thereby along a predetermined path while the sheet is treated, said pair of conveyor band means delivering said flexible portions to said stationary rod to rest thereon with said jaw means and sheet gripped thereby hanging from said exible portions which rest on said stationary rod, said pair of conveyor band means being spaced from each other also by a distance greater than the width of the sheet to be treated so that the sheet is never engaged by the pair of conveyor band means; and a bar extending between and connected with said flexible portion and being located on the side of said stationary rod opposite from said jaw means after said flexible portions are delivered to said rod, so that the weight of said bar acts against the weight of said jaw means and sheet.

5. For use in a device for treating a sheet such as a sheet of light-sensitive material, in combination, jaw means movable between open and closed positions, said jaw means when it is in its open position receiving an edge portion of a sheet which is to be treated and when it is in its closed position gripping the sheet to be treated at said edge portion thereof, said jaw means having a pair of front gripping edges and a rear edge portion at the opposite side of said jaw means from said front gripping edges thereof; a rod connected with said rear edge portion of said jaw means and extending laterally beyond the ends thereof, so that said rod has a pair of elongated free end portions located beyond the ends of said jaw means, respectively; and a pair of flexible portions connected with said free end portions of said rod and extending from the latter in a direction opposite from said jaw means, so that a conveyor means may cooperate with said flexible portions to transport said jaw means with a sheet gripped thereby without engaging the sheet.

6. For use in a device for treating a sheet such as a sheet of Ilight-sensitive material, in combination, jaw means movable between open and closed positions, said jaw means when it is in its open position receiving an edge portion of a sheet which is to be treated `and when it is in its closed position gripping the sheet to be treated at said edge portion thereof, said jaw means having a pair of front gripping edges and a rear edge portion at the opposite side of said jaw means from said front gripping edges thereof; a rod connected with said rear edge portion of said jaw means and extending laterally beyond the ends thereof, so that said rod has a pair of elongated free end portions located beyond the ends of said jaw means, respectively; a pair of flexible portions connected with said free end portions of said rod and extending from the latter in a direction opposite 4from said jaw means, so that a conveyor means may cooperate with said iiexible portions to transport said jaw means with a sheet gripped thereby without engaging the sheet; and an elongated bar connected with said flexible portions, extending substantially parallel to said rod, and being spaced from the latter on the side of said rod opposite from said gripping edges of said jaw means.

7. In a device as recited in claim 2, manually operable means cooperating with said tripping means for actuating the same.

8. In a device as recited in claim 2, means cooperating with said tripping means for automatically actuating the same when an edge portion of the sheet is received in said gripping means while the latter is in its open position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 934,890 Davidson Sept. 21, 1909 1,172,074 Townes Feb. 15, 1916 1,421,889 Augustine July 4, y192.2 1,553,920 Smothers Sept. 5, 1925 1,658,094 Paschen et al Feb. 7, 1928 1,679,411 De Potter Aug. 7, 1928 2,025,371 Beidler Dec. 24, 1935 2,265,975 Lloyd Dec. 9, 1941 2,455,127 Laxo Nov. 30, 1948 2,501,251 Zollinger Mar. 21, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 442,059 Great Britain Ian. 3l, 1936 

